The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-06-22
whisky Injure Texas ?

anu 10 tnc ANUS huOW tuut thCy Oah
not demonstrate any good which re-
suits to the people Of the State from
the liquor traffic. aud as they also
know that the prohtbtionists can
prove that fearful crime and waste
spring from it, therefore they dodge
the main issue and attempt 10 draw off
the attention of the people to what
Mr.. Jefferson said one hundred years
ago, and to what the people of Kansas
said and did twenty-five years ago,
and to the fact that the State of Maine
has a war debt of five or six millions
of dollars, to anything, except the
question which Democratic legisla-
turc submitted to the people to deter
mine in n democratic manner.
Mr.. Jefferson was wise man, and
if the ants would tell all he SAID their
eloquencc would not be so foreign to
the subject which is before us, but
they carefully avoid saying any
thing about his experience late in life
when he said: "The habit OF using
1ent spirits by men in public Office
has occasioned moro injury to the
public service aud moro trouble to me
than any other circumstance which
has occurred in the internal concerns
of the country during my administra-
ton. - If the moderate drunkenness
of that day called forth such decided
condemnation from Mr.. Jefferson.
what would he say of the blighting
intemperance which bloats and blus-
tiers in high places, then totters aud
falls into poor houses, asylums and
oblivion? What would he have said
if his chief of the statistical bureau
had laid before him, as President
Cleveland's has done, the startling
facts that the people of the United
States drank in one year 737000000
gallons of liquor, for which they paid
$7l1,000,0O0, in 1856, or nearly $4,000
900 per day.
Can wo by comparison appreciate
the volume of these startling figures ?
Let us try: The total assessed value OF
all real and personal property in
Texas last year was $6S0,0O0,OOO, or
S0,O00,00O more than the amount spent
for intoxicating liquor. Think of it,
NJ the land, houses, cattle, railroads,
d other property in Texas drank up
h ono year, and eight millions besides
Thy the temperate people" of tho
United States, as Mr.. Mills calls them.
Let us view this question another
way and sco if VIC can possibly realize
this waste Of money earned by brain
and muscle, then squandered Gu beast
ly appetite.
During the late war when nearly q
million of soldiers were under arms
paid, fed and clothed by the govern
ment, and fleets of iron. clad vessels
were built and sent cruising along tho
shore, the war expenses of the govern
ment were about one and half mill
ions per day. Now the people of the
United States arc spending two mill
ions per day for drinks, which de-
throne reason, undermine character
and mantle with shane the cheeks of
every pure woman in the land.
Can any thoughtful citizen, be he
democrat or republican, temperate or
Incorporate, Christian, Jow or Atheist
consider these things, aud then hest
tate as to his duty to the State and his
posterity, when he comes to decide
the question "does whisky cause
moro harm than good in Texas" The
people of Texas consumed their
share of the 7S5Oo0OOO of gallons of
~ uor which were drunk last year in
|thc United States, and on the first
day of January last did not have so
much as a suit of tig-leaf clothing to
show for their investment of 25'0CO,-
005 Of dollars. Better to have built
and equipped 1000 miles of railway in
Texas at $4,000 per mile and present
cd it to the railroad operators, or
bought $4,000 homes at $1,000 each and
given them 10 the needy and
homeless. The men who took
this immense sum OF money from the
people without giving them valua-
BILE consideration In return, are now
greatly offended. because the neonle